


There's Beautiful, Then There's You

by taegiradar



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Art Museum AU, Art Nerd Felix, Bang Chan is Whipped, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Not Beta Read, One Shot, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28480926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taegiradar/pseuds/taegiradar
Summary: Chan doesn't get the appeal of age-old paintings.Felix changes his mind.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Lee Felix
Comments: 10
Kudos: 91





	There's Beautiful, Then There's You

Chan enjoys a lot of things. He finds joy in simple things like cooking, watching the sun rise and set, and making mood-based playlists. Especially if it’s any kind of art-form - be it visual, literature, or graphic art - he’s more than likely to love it.

But as he stares at the walls of paintings from a billion years ago - he thinks he might not love  _ everything _ , after all.

It’s not like he hates these historic pieces of work, not at all. He appreciates the time and effort put into them and their cultural significance to the early times. It’s just - he can’t really understand them. He would read the descriptions, even refer to the little booklet they gave him about this particular section of the museum - but he still can’t seem to get his head around the appeal of it all. It makes him feel a bit stupid, really. Like is he not enough of an intellectual to understand why the hell a rough, hard-lined oil painting with no hints of any blue is named _‘Tide’_.

He feels bad, almost. Like he can’t fully value the paintings in front of him just because his dumb brain can’t fully understand most of them.

“Do you need a magnifying glass?” A sudden voice startles Chan, even though spoken softly.

Chan turns over to the source of the voice, and nothing could have prepared him for the sight in front of him.

Freckled cheeks, effortlessly styled blonde hair that just makes him look so  _ soft _ , oversized cream coloured sweater tucked into jeans, and a smile on his face that makes Chan want to write a million poems about.

_ He’s prettier than anything hanging on these walls, holy shit. _ He curses his brain for coming up with that out of everything. He’s a fucking disaster. (And lonely - very lonely.)

The human embodiment of Aphrodite chuckles, and Chan immediately feels his ears turn red. “Are you gonna answer me or just stare at me like that?”

Chan really wants to disappear right now.

“S-Sorry! You just caught me off guard.” Chan turns his gaze back to the painting he was looking at before. “Why do you ask?”

The other boy steps closer to Chan, and he has to will his heart to stop beating  _ so god damn loud. _

“You were looking at it so intensely with a frown on your face like you were having a hard time seeing it.” He says it lightly, a teasing smile on his lips. Chan slaps the thought of wanting to kiss it away almost immediately.

“No, I can see it perfectly. I just can’t really understand it.” Chan somehow feels even more stupid than before, because the painting in front of him is just one of a small valley surrounded by trees. “B-But! I want to! It’s not like I don’t think these works aren’t amazing and beautiful but-”

“Hey. It’s alright, calm down.” The same chuckle leaves his  _ (fucking beautiful) _ lips, and Chan thinks maybe it’s music made by the gods.

“Evening, Merri Creek by Julian Ashton, 1882.” He points at the same painting. “It’s a live painting done further down in Melbourne. He drew it just as the sun was setting, so that’s why the painting looks like there’s a glow around it.”

Chan can only nod, entranced by the boy’s words.

“It was actually the first-ever 'plein air' oil painting done in Australia. He painted it there, looking at the view right in front of his eyes.” The admiration he has is evident in the wispy voice and sparkles in his eyes. “He actually was considered a key encouragement for the many young artists who decided to work outside of their studios. He inspired a whole wave of people to let nature determine what they painted.”

Chan wondered how can someone be so - beautiful. Beautiful in every single sense of the word. He’s pretty, he exudes a golden aura from himself, and his  _ mind _ is so beautiful. They’ve barely been talking for 5 minutes and Chan is fully and utterly whipped.

“That’s… That’s really amazing. I get why they hung this up here now.” Chan is breathless as he says this.

“Every single painting on these walls hold a meaning, either to the artist or the viewer. It might be hard to get sometimes, which is fine. Just think about how that same painting could mean  _ everything _ to another person too.”

Chan is speechless, if that’s one way to put it. He can’t think of any words that could possibly describe what he feels at that moment.

“You a painter yourself?” He’s starting to get more and more curious about him. Chan wants to learn everything about him - his likes, his dislikes, what music he likes to listen to - everything. (And maybe, if he’s into boys or not.)

The smaller boy shakes his head in the most adorable way. (He shook his head like every other person. Chan is just way too gone.) “Nope. I just really love traditional art. I’ve been here like, thousands of times by now. All the staff know me.”

Chan imagines him coming here every week, spending hours and hours at just one section of the museum. Chan imagines the bright smiles he shares with the staff, every time they see him come in. He imagines him writing little notes in a notebook and cute furrowed eyebrows as he tries to study every stroke of the brush.

Chan, more than ever - wants to see them with his own eyes.

“I’m Bang Chan, by the way. But everyone just calls me Chan, or Chris.”

“Hello, Chris. My name’s Felix, your resident art nerd.” Felix ( _ god even his name is perfect _ ) laughs out.

Chan wants to hear that voice every day.

“Uhm. This might be weird and you can totally just decline, no hard feelings but-” He doesn’t want to let go of him just yet. “Can you bring me around the place? Tell me more stories?”

Felix beams, smile so bright and so genuinely excited that it makes Chan’s heart melt. “Of course! It would be an honour.”

They take another 3 hours to go through the entire museum, Felix explaining all the ones Chan points out and shows him his personal favourites. Chan has never ever spent this much time in a museum like this before (for god’s sake the only reason why he’s here is because he got a free ticket from a friend), but somehow it all went by in a flash.

Before he knows it, they’re standing at the exit, and Chan really  _ really _ doesn’t want to let go. He wants to hear more of Felix’s childhood stories, more reasons why Felix loves art so much, his likes, dislikes, and the little glimpses into his mind. Chan doesn’t want this to end, but as he watches the sun sink to its rest, he knows it has to.

But there’s hope. There’s a small connection he feels with Felix that he can’t just ignore. Even if they just end up being friends, Chan thinks it’s more than enough to just have Felix  _ in _ his life.

“Thank you, for today. You made me actually want to go back there.” Chan’s heart trembles.

The corners of Felix’s lips lift, a small smile that Chan has come to love. “You’re very welcome, Chris. Thanks for giving me another good reason to return.”

Subtle, but a promise of more. More time together, more days for Chan to fall completely in love.

And as Felix surprises him with a chaste kiss on the cheek just before they part ways,

Chan knows that the days will be spent with Felix falling in love with him, too.

**Author's Note:**

> happy new year! super self indulgent chanlix fluff to start 2021! i hope the year treats you all well, and thank you for 2020.
> 
> say hi on [twitter](https://twitter.com/eternitytrack) or [cc](https://curiouscat.qa/eternitytrack).


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